


Hey Brother

by Inrainbowz



Series: On Mortality [2]
Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Family Feels, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mortal Magnus, Panicking Alec, Protective Isabelle Lightwood, Self-Doubt, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-18 11:59:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8161367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inrainbowz/pseuds/Inrainbowz
Summary: Magnus asleep, it's Alec's turn to panic. Isabelle crosses town to comfort him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! This follows my first OS on Mortal Magnus, the first part of this serie. You don't have to read it to read this one, just know that Magnus made himself mortal and didn't handle it too well. 
> 
> I want to continue a lot of my OS. Most of them really. So here I am, starting that. I love series. Thanks to NightChanger for the correction!
> 
> Title from Avicii's Hey Brother  
>  _Hey, brother, do you still believe in one another_  
>  _Hey, sister, do you still believe in love, I wonder?_  
>  _Oh, if the sky comes falling down,_  
>  _For you,_  
>  _There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do._

Isabelle was woken up in the middle of the night by the ringing of her phone.

If she were an ordinary girl, maybe she would have ignored it. It was almost three in the morning, the previous day had been long and tedious and the next one would probably be too. She was exhausted, she wanted nothing more than to sleep.

But she was no ordinary girl, and she would never ignore a phone call. Especially if it was Alec's name flashing on the screen. She was already half out of bed and wide awake when she picked up.

"Alec, what is it?"

"I can't get out of the loft, and I need to talk to you."

He sounded distressed, panicked, but not hurt.

"Are you in any danger, are you hurt?"

"No. It's not urgent but..."

He was going to say that it could wait until morning and that he would be fine if she didn't want to come. He didn't. He really needed her then. He had also learned that people who loved him wanted to be bothered in this kind of situation.

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thank you."

She got dressed rapidly. She believed him when he said the matter was not life or death. Another thing he had learned was not to undermine a situation for their sake. Gone was the time when he would hide injuries and try to solve everything on his own. And he had called her, in the middle of the night, because he needed her. Because he finally dared to rely on her for comfort and support, as much as she relied on him. They had come a long way.

She took her bike out of the Institute garage and drove rapidly into the quiet streets of the half-sleeping city. The bike had been a whim, inspired by Jace’s antics. She didn't expect to fall in love with it. It gave her a freedom she have craved when she was young, stuck in the premises of the Institute.

She had a text from her brother when she arrived in Brooklyn, telling her to let herself in. She glamoured the bike and went up the stairs. She came there often now that he was living with the warlock. She liked it there almost as much as he did. It was a safe place, welcoming, a sanctuary.

She entered the loft quietly but not enough, for Alec exited the bedroom at the same moment to meet her in the main room. She assessed him rapidly. He was agitated, worried, but not sad or angry. He walked toward her and they met in the middle, linking hands as soon as they were close enough. He squeezed tightly and exhaled, relieved, like things has suddenly gone at least a little bit better now that she was here. She was touched by the amount of trust and gratitude she saw in him, how he took solace in her presence. She hoped she could relieve him of his worries.

"Thank you for coming," he whispered with a small voice.

"Always, brother. Come on, let's sit, and you can tell me what's going on."

He nodded weakly and let her pull him toward the couch, docile. She went into the kitchen to fix them both a cup of Magnus's herbal tea. She knew her way around the loft. It was comforting.

Alec hadn't moved when she brought the cup back. He was staring at his hands, clasped tightly on his laps. He jumped when she settled next to him.

“Here you go,” she said, handing him the warm drink. “Now spill."

He wrapped his hand around the cup, sucking on the warmth, and took a careful sip. He wasn't looking at her but into the depth of the drink, like it held all the answers.

"I'm sorry I made you come all the way here. I couldn't leave Magnus alone."

“Is he hurt?"

"No. Not exactly."

He was rolling the cup between his hands, obviously struggling with what to say next. She was going to pry when he lifted his head to look at her in the eyes for the first time that night.

"Magnus made himself mortal today."

And then he deflated completely. His head sank in his hunched shoulders and she had to get hold of the cup before it slipped from his numb fingers. He grabbed his head in his hands as she stared, at a loss.

It wasn't what she was expecting at all. She figured they’d had a fight or Magnus had overworked himself again and Alec needed both to rant and to be reassured that everything would be fine. It had happened before.

But this?

She wrapped both arms around his trembling frame, not sure if he was crying or not. She ran a soothing hand on his back until he could talk again. She was a bit lost, she couldn’t imagine how he was feeling.

“I don’t know what to think. I’m lost. He said he’s been thinking about it for a long time but… but it has to do with me too, right? I never asked that of him. I can’t say I didn’t think about it but… I didn’t ask for that.”

She figured it wasn’t her time to talk yet, so she stayed silent as he gathered his thoughts and emotions.

"It changes everything, and he was so freaked out, I had to stay calm, to not panic, but I am, I'm panicking real hard." His breath was growing shorter and shorter.

"I don't know what to think. I don't know if it's a good thing. I don't know, Izzy..."

"Okay, first of all, everything’s fine for now. I'm here with you, I'm not leaving, you're safe and you're not alone, it's okay. It's okay."

She repeated it until he was calmer, taking the edge off his panic as he relaxed into her embrace. They were good as long as he listened to her. They stayed silent for a long time, both needing to gather their thoughts, to think of what to say.

"Better”, Izzy said when she felt him more grounded, mind reeling as she carefully chose her words. “Now, it doesn’t change everything. A different future opened and it's bound to be scary, but Magnus is still Magnus and you're still you. You'll have to handle this, together, like you did before."

"My whole perspective has shifted, I can't imagine how it must be for him. He was so scared earlier when I came home, I've never seen him like this."

Count on Alec to be worried about others first. Well, it was his job to worry about everybody else, and it was hers to worry about him specifically.

"This is huge for both of you. You were strong for him I'm sure, and now I'm here to be strong for you. It's okay to be scared."

"But it's not about me."

"Of course it is too. You share your life together. You'll be together for a long time. Isn’t it a good thing then?"

She felt him tensed at that. She had hit a nerve.

"What is it Alec? Talk to me."

"It's just... No, no, I can't."

"Alec please. There's nothing you have to hide from me. I can help you. Please tell me."

"It's just... You said it. We'll stay together now... We have to."

He was growing distressed again. She took his hands in hers.

"What do you mean you have to?"

"After something like this... How can I ever compete with that? How can I ever fault him for anything now, I can’t… How could I ever leave him?"

He looked scared by the very idea and still he was wondering about it. She squeezed his hand gently to catch his attention."

"You can't think like that, Alec. You owe Magnus nothing. He made his choices, his motivations are his own. You can't think like that."

"But..."

"And anyway, weren't you planning to spend the rest of your life with him?"

He smiled at that, a distant, private smile, thinking back on some memories and promises, on future plans that helped him hold on when the worlds was terrible.

"Yeah."

"Then that's the reason why you'll stay. Not because you feel you have to, but because you want to, and you're in love. And if maybe it changed some day, well, it will be like any other stories. People change and fall out of love all the time. It's nobody's fault."

"I could never do that to him."

"Alec, you shouldn’t do that to yourself either. You know, it's like when people get married. They think they’ll be together forever, so they tie the knot. A terrible metaphor. It makes them feel trapped, like suddenly they don’t have the choice anymore, they are forced to make it right, when it was always their plan in the first place. I told you, it doesn’t' change that much of anything. Not right now."

"I'm scared he will blame me."

The confession brought tears to her brother's eyes. She stared at him, surprised, as he tried to wipe them out angrily, but now that the flow was open there was no stopping it.

"What?"

"What if he regrets? He asked me, and I told him we would just have to deal with it. What if he regrets, Izzy? What if he blames me? I used to want that. He did it for me. What if he end up hating me?"

He was crying openly now, silent sobs shaking his shoulders as tears flooded his face. He rarely cried – she could count on one hand the number of times she had comforted him like this. And like all of those times, she felts helpless. She didn’t know what she could tell him, what would bring him some small amount of peace and comfort.

“He won’t,” she said gently, even if they both knew there was no way she could affirm that with certitude. “He won’t. And if he does, well, he’s not worth it. You did nothing wrong Alec. This not your fault, nor his.”

“I feel bad for thinking that way. That’s really not what he needs right now. He needs me to be strong. He’s a mess.”

“And he’s not here. I got you Alec. Just for tonight, you can let it go. You’ll deal with this in the morning but for now, it’s only you and me, and I’m not going anywhere.”

He leaned into her then, letting himself be held together by her strong arms and soothing voice. He thanked her at some point, a quiet few words of gratitude he repeated like a mantra, and she held him through it all, until he had no more tears to cry.

He had such a negative view on all this. Always thinking of the worst case scenario could be great to craft a plan and fight demons, but it made him miserable in relationship issues.

“You worry too much, Alec,” she whispered gently into his hair. “You always think of the worst first. But maybe it will be fine. Maybe it’s a good thing, and it’ll make you both happier. You have to hold on to that hope, okay? I think it’s great. I think you’re lucky. You have to believe it.”

Even then they stayed huddled together on the couch, unwilling to let go. Alec was dozing off, exhausted by his emotions and worries, and she started to do the same when the bedroom door opened abruptly, making them both jump.

Magnus appeared in the door frame, looking exhausted and slightly panicked. He relaxed as his eyes zeroed on Alec who had jumped from the couch and was making his way towards him.

“Everything’s okay?” her brother asked quietly, bringing a hand up to cup Magnus’s face.

“Yeah, I’m sorry I… I woke up and you…”

The tall frame of Alec was shielding Magnus from her view but she could hear the cracks in his voice, could imagine him bow his head, embarrassed and insecure as he rarely was.

“I thought you had left,” he whispered, and she felt almost bad for hearing it. Alec wrapped him in his arms. She wondered if the warlock was crying.

“I’m not, I’m not, I’m not going anywhere,” Alec repeated in his hair. Magnus was clutching at his shirt for dear life and she realized he had really expected Alec to leave, and Alec knew it. That’s why he had asked her to come. He couldn’t have left the loft without his lover believing he was being abandoned.

It was so terrible.

Alec was standing tall, receiving the weight of Magnus and his anguish against him, and she knew he would show no more weakness as long as Magnus was here to see. One day maybe, when things were settled, he could talk to the other man of the doubts and fears weighing on his mind, but for now he would do all he could so that Magnus wouldn’t know. Alec had always dealt better with other’s emotions than his own.

She waited while Alec sweet talked Magnus into going back to bed, promising that he would join him soon. She wasn’t sure Magnus had noticed she was there – she wasn’t sure he was even properly awake. She couldn’t wrap her head around what he was going through. He was several hundred years old – she didn’t know how much exactly – and had lived all those years convinced he’d always have the eternity to deal with. What would happen now?

“Do you want me to stay here?” she asked Alec when he came back, gesturing for the couch. He shook his head.

“No. I don’t think he’ll be up to deal with anyone else for now. I don’t know if he was okay with me telling you or…

“Alec. You are admirable for the way you’re handling this, I think he’ll understand. You’re not infallible.”

“Yeah but…”

“Please, don’t do this. Don’t try and be unaffected. Think of yourself too, there is nothing wrong with that. Just because he’s having it worse than you right now doesn’t invalidate how bad you feel too, alright?”

“I just don’t want to let him down.”

“You’re not, and you won’t. You’re also not a robot. No one will blame you for cracking.”

“Only to you,” he said. He wasn’t being smug, saying he could handle it with only minimum breaking of his own. No, more like she was the only one he felt comfortable showing this, because they could never convince him that showing weakness wasn’t the terrible failure he thought it was.

She glanced at the half-closed door of the bedroom. The light was off, but she figured Magnus wasn’t sleeping, just waiting in the dark, anxious and restless, wondering if everything was falling apart or if he would get through this.

“Take care of him yeah?” she requested quietly. She didn’t want to see him like this. Magnus was the one who cheered up others, he was the stable one, the one who knew how to deal. She hated the idea of him suffering.

“Of course,” Alec replied with the shadow of a smile, pleased with her concern. She rolled her eyes.

“I care about both of you, stupid. Now, go get some rest. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

He agreed, before enveloping her into a hug. She went willingly, trying not to dwell on how tight he was holding her, how tense his body was.

“Thank you.”

“Always, Alec, always.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm already working on the following piece because Mortal Magnus makes me FEEL. I HAVE to write a super angsty one where they accuse each other of this. Ouh yeah. Thank you for reading, don't forget to comment, find me on [tumblr](http://inrainbowz.tumblr.com), bye!


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